A French court has heard that thieves who stole a mural by the street artist Banksy on an emergency exit door of the Bataclan concert hall in Paris used a crowbar and angle grinder to prise it free in a crime that lasted just minutes, reports The Guardian.
The work depicting a veiled and mournful figure is thought to have been a tribute to victims of the Islamist militant attacks against the Bataclan and other entertainment venues in Paris in 2015.
Seven Frenchmen and an Italian went on trial in Paris for the theft on Wednesday.
Defence lawyers for some of the men framed the theft as a case of small-time crooks who ended up with a more troublesome object on their hands than they had anticipated.
The lawyer for Franck Grillet-Aubert, one of the three men accused of prising the door from its fittings, said his client had no idea what he was stealing.
“It’s simple. Since the beginning of this case he has said he was there because he knew how to cut doors. It’s as stupid as that. He was asked to do that, he did it, he put the door in the van and went home,” the lawyer told reporters outside the court.
The trio, captured on surveillance camera but identified after police tracked their phones following a separate theft, have admitted theft but dispute who was behind the crime.